Frozen Stars
by KyokoKitten
Summary: OC.I have started rewriting my first Bleach fanfic, and here it is! I hope you enjoy it, and please review  -   Rated M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

Frozen Stars

~ Disclaimer~ I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters, except the ones I have made Myself ^-^

Chapter 1

Hisagi Shuuhei paced back and forth in front of his newly appointed Taichou's quarters. Soft snoring could be heard from the otherside of the large sliding door. The sun was just starting to rise over SeiReiTei and spilled out onto the balcony floor in front of him. He had an important message do deliver to her, as soon as he possibly could, and was beginning to get a bit impatient with waiting.

He stopped briefly in front of the door and reached out to open it,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Hisagi-San." A nearby member of the 9th division said. He was sitting againts the wall a short distance away, "She asked not to be bothered until she woke up…and she has kind of a short temper when it comes to sleeping…"

Hisagi hesitated a moment at the warning, then deciding it couldn't be that bad, slid the door open and walked inside.

He walked back to her bedroom to find his Taichou, Hitsugaya Yuki, asleep in her enormous bed. Her small body sprawled out, tangled up in her grey blanket. Her long pure white hair spread out over her pillow and her face. She looked almost exactly like Toushiro, her face was a bit more feminine and she had long eyelashes. She was a little shorter too,

"Hmm…" Hisagi muttered, "Those two really are twins…" He stood there for a moment, then cleared his throat, "Hitsugaya-Taichou!"

She jerked awake and looked up at him with angry, weary, Icy Blue eyes,

"Shuuhei…" She muttered, sitting up and leaning on her hands for support.

She was wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts for PJ's, they were way too big for her,

"What the hell do you want?" Her voice was an angry growl.

"Uh…Um…" Was all he could muster as the words got caught in his throat.

She narrowed her eyes, "Spit it out…"

"I…uh…Have a message for you…" He said quietly.

"And…?"

"You're to go over to the living world…For your own protection from Aizen and the others…Since they've recently sworn revenge on those who would become Taichou in their places…"

"I'll make a note of that…" She said, Hisagi beginning to get on her nerves a little.

She was the only one who would take over as Taichou, everyone else feared doing so. And now they didn't trust her. She quickly shook her head to get rid of that thought, orders were orders.

She looked up at Hisagi with an eerily cheerful smile on her face, one that almost made him cringe. She reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her alarm clock,

"Now Shuuhei…GET OUT!"

She threw the alarm clock at him, hitting him in the chest with it and sending him flying out into the hall. He quickly stood up and made his way out, putting his hand over the slight indentation the clock had made there.

He sighed, "Bad temper…Check…"

It was a few more hours before she finally staggered wearily outside. Her robes were thrown on haphazardly. Because she was so small, they were too big, and covered her hands and feet. Her zanpakuto was strapped to her back. Her hair was now pulled into a low pony tail, her bangs falling over her face, thick on the left side, a thinner bit on the right,

"Good Morning…Taichou…" Hisagi said, a little nervously.

"Mmm…"

"I just wanted to tell you good luck on your mission."

She looked up at him, "Thanks…Shuuhei."

She quickly opened up a gate and released a Hell Moth, then turned and gave him a little wave,

"See ya."

Kuchiki Rukia sat in the Kurosaki living room with Kon. They were awaiting Ichigo's return from running some. Kon was all over the place, completely unable to sit still, as usual,

"Oneeeeeeeeeeeeee-Samaaaaaaaaaa" He whined, "I'm bored, let's do something!"

She turned her head away from him, closing her eyes, "Ichigo said to wait here until he got back."

"Since when do you listen to him?"

"Since he promised me snacks if I did." She said grinning.

Her face suddenly turned serious as she looked toward the door, "Hm?"

"What is it Nee-San?"

"A strong Reiatsu…" She jumped up and put her shoes on, running outside.

It was a very hot day for being the beginning of spring, but she didn't really see it as strange, nothing really seemed strange around this town anymore. There were a lot of people out for that time of day as well. She scanned the crowd, trying to locate the source of the Reiatsu she'd felt, then she spotted it. A small white haired girl stood several hundred feet away from her. The Reiatsu seemed to fille the entire space between them. She stood speechless, surprised that a body that small could hold that much power. She was awestruck for a moment, then snapped out of it and sped off after her.

It took her a suprisingly long time to catch up. It was almost as if she was shunpoing after every other normal step she was taking. But she eventually stopped in front of a large building and Rukia walked up behind her. They stood there for a moment until she finally spoke,

"Is there a reason you're following me?"

"Your Reiatsu…It's amazing."

The girl glanced in her direction, "You're Kuchiki Rukia, yes?"

"How-"

"I'm Hitsugaya Yuki," She smirked, "New Taichou of the ninth division." She turned back to the direction she was originally facing, "You're a member of the noble family as well, so of course I know you."

"Oh…Well…Nice to meet you. Wait, Hitsugaya?"

She glanced back once more, "We're twins…"

"I see." Rukia said smiling.

She hadn't noticed before, but Yuki was very short, at least 4 inches shorter than her brother, and quite cute as well. She was wearing a pink zip up sweatshirt that was too big, and sleeves that went well over her hands, black shorts that went down just to her knees, and black flip flop sandals. She had three piercings in her ears. Two on the bottom, and one at the top, with a chain that connected it to the bottom most one,

"So why're you wandering around here?"

"I was just trying to figure out why so many Hollows are drawn to this town. It doesn't seem like the kind of place that would attract too many."

"Yeah, sometimes it doesn't seem that way." Rukia replied sadly, but she quickly perked back up, "You want to come hang out with me…that is…if you haven't got anything else to do?"

"I guess so." She said, a little flatly.

Rukia smiled and they cheerfully went back to the Kurosaki House.

When they got back Ichigo had already returned, "Where have you been?"

"Just looking for something. She said, pushing Yuki, who was standing behind her, out.

Ichigo glared, "Well, no snacks for yo- Wait…She looks just like Toushiro."

"She's _Hitsugaya-Taichou's _Twin sister."

"Yuki." She said, giving a little nod.

"They sent ANOTHER one?"

"Idiot…You'll have to get used to it. The more we have to deal with Aizen, the more shinigami they will send." Rukia said, growling. Then she turned to Yuki and smiled, "Do you have anywhere to stay yet?"

"No."

"Why don't you stay here?"

"Rukia that's-" Ichigo started to protest, but Rukia covered his mouth with her hand, "We'll find someplace for you to sleep!"

"Who's house do you think -" Ichigo managed to get out before Rukia clamped his mouth shut once more.

Just then Kon peeked out from behind Ichigo's leg, where he'd been hiding and finally decided it was okay for him to show himself, "Another girl, hm?" He said, walking up to her and looking her over, "Pretty cute, but she's got none of the things I usually look for in a lady." He imagined Matsumoto and Orihime. Yuki picked him up by the back of his neck, "How's this thing talking?" She asked, streching his face. He protested quite loudly.

Rukia laughed, "He's a mod soul."

"Really? I didn't think any were left." She dropped him onto the floor, "What's his name?"

"Kon." Ichigo replied immediately.

"Kon?" She asked, laughing, "What a stupid name!"

Kon turned away from her, crossing his arms, "Hmph…I don't like you anymore…"

Rukia grabbed onto Yuki's arm, "C'mon! Let's go find someplace for you to sleep!" She said, getting all excited. Then she ran off, dragging Yuki behind her, and trampling Kon.

A short while later Yuzu and Karin returned home from a long trip to the grocery store. Yuzu quickly learned of the new girl staying in the house, and immediately started making preparations. She got out a futon and put it on the floor in their room and Karin put a sign on the door that said "Girls Only!"

Once Yuzu was convinced the room was just right, and that Yuki would be comfortable, she went downstairs to start dinner. Karin and Rukia followed to keep her company, leaving Yuki alone in the quiet room.

She sat there on her futon, just thinking to herslef, when she suddenly heard the front door open and a loud voice yell, "I'm Home!"

She ran to the stairs and looked down to find Isshin Kurosaki standing at the front door, removing his shoes.

He immideately noticed her, "So we have a new guest at our house, hm?" He gave her a friendly smile.

"This is Yuki, Daddy. She'll be staying with us for a little while." Yuzu informed him.

"Nice to meet you…" Yuki said as she walked down the remainder of the stairs.

He gave her a nod in return, then immediately went to hug Karin as hard as he possibly could, while she struggled to free herself.

Yuki's eyes narrowed, "Strange…" She thought, "Such high Reiatsu for a human…"

"Come and eat, Yuki-Chan!" Yuzu called, snapping her right out of her thoughts.

She nodded and walked to the dining room to join the others at the table.

So this is my rewrite of my original first Bleach fan fic. I really didn't like how it turned out at first, so I wanted to go back and correct some things. Not much needed correcting here in the first chapter, but there is more later on of course.

Thanks for reading so far, and please review and let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After dinner everyone went to their separate corners of the house. Yuki sat in the living room on the couch, arms and legs crossed, eyes closed. The wondered when she was going to see Toushiro, and if she was really safe there from Aizen's grasp.

Suddenly the air got very thick and heavy. Her eyes popped open,

"Feels like…Him…"

She jumped up and ran barefoot out the door. The first thing she noticed was that it was far too calm and quiet outside. Despite the warmth, not a cricket could be heard. It was as if no sound could get through. She walked slowly down the street until she came to a long dark alleyway and something wouldn't let her walk by.

He looked down into the darkness and noticed a faint blue glow some distance down. She took a few steps forward and was nearly brought to her knees by the weight of the air around her. She noticed that as she walked forward, so did the glow. A chill ran up her spine as the figure came closer. She quickly released from her Gigai and took a few more steps until the figure was perfectly clear. A young female shinigami, very slender, hair pulled back in a covered bun,

"H-Hinamori..?"

It was Hinamori, or at least appeared to be. She stood hunched over, as if she'd been wounded, but no wound could be seen. Her eyes were covered in shadow, and a frightening yet familiar smile spread across her usually sweet face. A blue aura swirled around her, and her Zanpakuto dragged on the ground behind her. Yuki was instantly reminded of a puppet,

"Hitsugaya Yuki…" She whispered; although it wasn't only her voice that spoke, Aizen's echoed behind it,

"Tousen said you'd be here…"

"How-"

"He has an informant…"They said, very sharply. She smirked, "You're going to help me crush SeiReiTei, hm?"

"I'll never help you." Yuki replied, lowering her voice.

"You have no choice." She shunpoed past her and stopped with her back to Yuki.

Yuki stood frozen as a long thin cut appeared over the left side of her face; it went straight through the very center of her eye.

She slowly raised her hand to it as it begun to bleed, "Wha…"

She carefully reached for her Zanpakuto, only to find it wasn't there. Then she turned to see Hinamori holding it,

"You'll either side with me, or die."

She swung the two blades and Yuki jumped back, barely missing being hit by Hinamori's.

"Shit…" She thought, having little idea of what she should do. She was good at hand to hand combat, but not against someone with that kind of speed.

The next time she swung she blocked the blade with her arm and used the slight opening to knock her to the ground, trying to do as little damage to her body as possible. She grabbed her blade and held it down toward Hinamori, who was struggling to get up,

"I won't be defeated by a traitor."

"Suddenly so noble." They said as the blade in Hinamori's hands gleamed for a moment, then she was gone.

Yuki looked around, careful not to make any sudden movements. Then a loud crash made her turn. As she did she could feel cold steel tearing through her flesh. Hinamori had cut through her from her right shoulder down to her left hip, blood poured from her. She staggered backward and nearly fell, but Hinamori caught her,

"Any last words?"

Blood poured out of her mouth when she tried to speak, "B-Bastard…" She managed to choke out.

"I'll be sure to make a note of that…"

Hinamori picked her up off of the ground and held her at arm's length, tracing her throat with her blade,

"Hmm…How should I end this…?"

Suddenly there was a loud crash somewhere in the back of the alley that startled her. She let out a low growl and tossed Yuki on the ground, disappearing.

Yuki rolled over onto her back, looking up at the star filled sky. She was suddenly aware that the sound of crickets had filled the air again. She sighed, "This…Is shit…"

Toushiro sat on Orihime's rooftop looking up at the moon. Suddenly something cold hit his nose,

"Eh?" He looked around him, "Snow?" He held out his hand and a large flake fell on it, he could feel pain from it, "Yuki…"

Yuki lay on the ground just outside the alleyway; she'd pulled herself just into view, leaving a long trail of blood behind her. Her vision was becoming blurred in her right eye, and from her left eye, she couldn't see anything at all. She coughed softly and a small amount of blood trickled out. She closed her eyes and was just about to give up when she heard footsteps running toward her. She opened her eyes to see someone standing in front of her,

"Yuki!" A familiar voice echoed far away in her ears.

She felt herself being rolled over onto her back,

"Shiro-Nii…" She whispered.

"Who…Who did this?"

"Aizen…" She said, just barely audible, "…And…Hinamori."

"Hinamori?" He asked, pausing for a moment at the sound of her name, then he looked down at her, "Let's get you someplace you can get fixed up…" He stood up and gently pulled her onto her feet, "You'll be alright…" He said, a little bit of panic in his voice.

Renji sat outside of Urahara's shop, sleeping. He slowly opened his eyes when he heard footsteps running up toward the store. He saw Toushiro walking toward him, and unknown Shinigami in his arms. He jumped to his feet,

"Woah…What happened?" He asked, still a little sleepy.

"I'll explain later, go and get Urahara." Toushiro instructed, a look of worry on his face.

Renji turned to go into the shop, only to find Urahara already standing in the doorway, "My my, what do we have here?"

"She's-"  
"Hurt, yes, I know. I had a feeling something like this might happen tonight," He turned, "Come in."

Renji rushed to help Toushiro and they got Yuki inside.

Urahara lead them to a small room at the back of his shop. Inside a futon was spread out on the floor, bandages and a tub of warm water sat next to it. They carefully laid Yuki on the futon and backed away a little so Urahara could work. He sat down next to her,

"I told them…She wouldn't be any safer here…" He muttered, removing her Haiyori and placing it on the floor behind him. He ran his cold fingers down her huge wound causing her body to completely tense up,

"It's very deep….It will probably take quite a while for it to heal… I'll do my best to keep her safe here until she can move again at least."

Toushiro nodded, the look of worry not leaving his face,

"You shouldn't worry so much." Urahara said, giving him a slight, yet unsure smile.

Then he turned back to her and pulled the hair over the left side of her face up, examining the cut on her face. He tried to touch it, but she cowered away.

He leaned down, "Open your eyes."

She slowly did as she was told; it was excruciating to open her left eye at all. He winced when he saw it,

"That's not good…" He examined it as quickly as he could so she could shut it again, "Okay, you're gonna sleep now, hm?" He put his hand on her forehead and she was quickly asleep.

He sat back, "She's going to be blind in that eye I'm afraid."

"Blind…But that's-" Toushiro started.

"Terrible for a fighter, I know. It will take some getting used to."

"Will she be okay?"

"I don't know at this point," He said, putting his hand on her forehead, "We'll just have to wait it out."

Toushiro put his hand on top of hers, "Just…Hold on…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was over a week before she finally awoke. Her wounds had just barely closed. Toushiro hadn't left her side the entire time she was out. He was too worried to even sleep, and the dark circles under his eyes were proof of that. Matsumoto came to check on him occasionally, but was almost always turned away.

It was a cloudy, stormy evening. The weather had been bad ever since the night Yuki was attacked. The heavy atmosphere around SeiReiTei was making it pretty bad. Thunder and lightning cracked outside, though it couldn't be seen in the small, windowless room.

Yuki's eyes slowly fluttered open, they glowed a little in the light of the room, full of extreme pain. Her left eye was still blue, but it was blank, no pupil could even be seen any longer, she could hardly keep it open. Her breating was very heavy,

"Yuki…" Toushiro asked, "How're you feeling?"

"H…Hurts…" Was all she could say.

"Yeah, well, a wound like that'll do that to you." Urahara said from the doorway.

How long he was standing there no one knew. Toushiro wouldn't have noticed at all. He crossed his arms and walked across the room,

"I supposed I should give you your treatment now…But it will be quite painful for you." He knelt down next to her and looked at Toushiro, "Would you mind helping her sit up?"

He hesitated for a moment, worried about causing her too much pain and possibly opening up her wounds, "O-okay…" He replied, looking down at her, "You think you can sit for a minute?"

She slowly nodded in reply.

He carefully sat her up. She let out a loud gasp as the pain hit her, causing her to hunch over a little. Her entire torso was wrapped in bandages, so the only part of her robe she was wearing was her hakama. Urahara put his hand on her shoulder,

"Try and relax…The more tense you are, the worse the pain."

She tried to relax, but it seemed that the harder she tried the more tense she got. Urahara hovered his hands over her back, using a very small healing spell. He came to the conclusion that healing her too fast could cause problems. He quickly noticed that her breath had started coming to her in short spurts, the longer she was sitting. Then Toushiro noticed something else,

"Her wounds…" He muttered.

"What?" Urahara asked.

"Her wounds." He repeated, "They've…Reopened."

Urahara stopped what he was doing and immediately laid her back down. Blood was seaping through her bandages. Her breathing sounded like her lungs were full of liquid. Urahara stumbled over what to do, "How did this happen? She wasn't moving enough…"

Yuki winced and closed her eyes.

"Call Unohana…" Toushiro said, "She may be able to help."

"It's not as though it's that simple for someone like me to just call Soul Society…But I do have an idea." He stood, "You keep an eye on her, I shouldn't be more than a few minutes." he said as he walked out, sliding the door shut behind him.

Toushiro picked up a cold wet cloth from the basin that sat next to him on the floor and put it on Yuki's forehead. She shuddered under it,

"Shiro…Nii…?"

"Hm?"

"Aizen…He has some sort of…Control…Over Hinamori…"

Toushiro stopped what he was doing and looked down at her, "What?"

"He used her…to attack me…"

"But why?"

"I…I don't know…"

He sat there for a moment, trying to take the information in, then looked back down at her,

"You shouldn't be speaking too much."

She shook her head, "No…I'm fine…" But blood once again began to stream out of the side of her mouth as she spoke.

Urahara suddenly slammed the door open again, making them both jump a little,

"Okay, I found someone who can help."

Toushiro looked up as the person he'd talked to on the phone walked in, "Kurosaki-San?"

It was Isshin, he was wearing his usual crazy clothes with a lab coat over the top,

"Just one request from all of you, don't tell Ichigo about this."

They nodded in a greement.

Isshin knelt down next to Yuki. Her entire body now heaved heavily with each breath she tried to take. The look on his face quickly turned very serious,

"I have to take her back to the clinic with me, I need my equipment."

"Right, go on ahead and take her, we'll catch up with you." Urahara replied.

He carefully picked her up and left the room. Toushiro tried to follow but Urahara put Benihime out to stop him, "We should stay here for a little while, I think."

Isshin got back to the clinic as quickly as he could. He peeked inside the house to see Yuzu in the kitchen doing some cleaning,

"Yuzu, Don't come back to the clinic for a little while, and don't let your brother or sister come back here either, alright?"

"Okay!" Yuzu replied, a little confused, but she wasn't going to ask any questions.

He took Yuki into one of the rooms and laid her down on the bed there, then quickly got to work. The bleeding hadn't stopped and her breathing was, somehow, even more labored than it had been before. He quickly took out a blood pack and some pain medication and hooked them both up to an IV that he stuck in her hand, hoping to lessen the pain. Then he removed her bloodstained bandages.

She looked terrible benieth them. Where the wound had previously closed it had torn apart, the skin a and flesh around it was jagged looking. The wound was incredibly deep, the sword was less than an inch from hitting her spine,

"This'll have to be cleaned and stitched up." He said quietly to himself.

He quickly examined her eye, which he couldn't do much about so he just put a bandage over it to help it heal,

"Blinded in one eye? You just became a Taichou…just awful…" He sighed, hating to see a child in that kind of condition, even though he knew in age and experience she wasn't a child at all.

He had just started to prepare to clean the wound when he heard a loud slam outside,

"Like hell he can keep me out!" Ichigo yelled, being stubborn as usual.

Isshin quickly left the room, closing the door behind him, coming face to face with his orange haired son.

He cleared his throat, "Wh-what is it?"

Ichigo gave him a curious look, "What're you hiding?"

"Ahem, nothing."

"Lair" He said, trying to get to the door, but Isshin immediately stopped him,

"Why do you want to go in there?"

"To see…"

"What?"

Ichigo couldn't come up with anything else to say and a scowl crossed his face, "What're you hiding?"

Isshin suddenly towered over him, "It's none of your business, boy…"

Ichigo cowered a little, he'd never seen his father like that before.

He backed up a little, "Um…I'll just…Come back later…" He said as he quickly left, shuttin the door behind him.

Isshin nodded, "Good."

He turned and went back inside. Yuki, who had passed out on the way to the clinic, had awakened, but just barely. The pain she felt was very obvious. He knelt down next to her bed,

"I can make you sleep, if you want." His voice was very quiet and gentle. She looked at him with her icy blue eyes, "…alright…"

He quickly prepared a needle with a powerful sedative in it,

"I'll warn you though, you might not wake up…"

She nodded slightly, knowing already that that could happen. He hesitated for but a second, then stuck the needle into the IV tube and injected it. He put his hand carefully on her arm, "It'll work really fast, so just relax…" He said, his voice beginning to drift away.

She could feel the medicine running through her body, and her pain started to fade.

A few hours later he'd finished what he needed to do and was sitting next to her bed. Suddenly he heard loud footsteps outside, and the door swung open,

"Taichou!" A voice yelled as a tall figure entered the room.

Isshin looked up, "You're her Fukutaichou?"

He looked up, not realizing anyone else was in the room, "Yes…"

"I'm Kurosaki Isshin, I'm taking care of her."

"Hisagi Shuuhei…" He sat down on the edge of Yuki's bed, "Is she…okay?"

"Don't know…It's looking bad now, but I'm hoping it gets better."

Isshin stood up and walked to the door, "I'll leave you be, you probably want to spend time with your Taichou. She's sedated, but it should be wearing off soon."

"Thank you…"

He walked out.

Hisagi just sighed, "Taichou…"

He sat there for a moment, and her eyes fluttered open a little, she didn't seem to be able to open them all the way,

"Hisagi-San…" She whispered."

He leaned down, "You're awake! Do you need anything?"

"Water…?"

"Um…" He looked around the room and spotted a water pitcher, "Right…"

He poured some into the glass that sat next to it and went back to her side. He put his hand under her back and sat her up a little, she winced,

"You alright?" He asked, his voice full of sudden worry.

She nodded slowly. He brought the cup up to her lips and she took a sip from it. It was hard for her to swallow it, but she managed. He helped her lay back down and set the glass on a small table next to the bed,

"Everyone is worried about you…" He paused, "They're all afraid that you might be killed…"

"They have reason to worry…" She whispered closing her eyes, "They'll be back…"

"No. I'll make sure they don't lay another finger on you."

"Hisagi-San…"

"You've given up already haven't you?"

"What..?"

"You keep calling me "Hisagi-San"."

"Must've slipped out…Shuuhei…"

He smiled a little, "Y'know, you should probably rest."

"I don't…"

"Do it anyway." He said sternly, "I can't be losing another Taichou…"

She sighed and turned her head to one side, "Shuuhei…?

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry…" She said as she drifted off to sleep once more.

Later that night Hisagi had fallen asleep. He sat on the floor with his head and arms resting on her bed. It was pitch black outside except for a single streetlamp that let a small streak of light in through the window that fell across Hisagi's face. It went off very suddenly and Hisagi jolted awake, he knew it couldn't be light enough yet for it to go off on its own,

"Hiiiiisaaaagiiii." A familiar voice whispered, snapping him into being fully awake. He slowly realized he was completely surrounded by darkness, "Tousen…?"

"No "Taichou", no "Sama", that hurts me."

"What are you doing here?"

"I've come for your…assistance."

"You have to be kidding! Why would I help you?"

"If you don't, I will personally kill your sweet little Taichou, and you wouldn't like that now would you?"

Hisagi growled.

"Tomorrow night, Aizen –Sama is going to release a hollow near here. Let her go, just pretend you're…sleeping or something like that…"

"Tousen…" Yuki's voice cut through the darkness, "Get out…"

"You broke my Bankai?"

"GET OUT!"

"Mm…Hisagi…Don't forget…" And with that he was gone, and the darkness was lifted.

Yuki put a hand on Hisagi's arm, "So…What was that about…?"

"Nothing…I won't have anything to do with him. You just go back to sleep."

She didn't really believe him, but she released his arm and slowly fell asleep once more.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next night Hisagi had left Yuki alone to rest a little more. Toushiro had been in to see her earlier in the day, but couldn't bring himself to stay for long. She had just fallen asleep after a long while of being consious and thinking about what Tousen had said, when an all to familiar Reiatsu filled the air.

A loud bang caused Yuki to open her eyes,

"A Hollow…?"

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and winced, "Ugh…I have to go…"

She rolled out of her bed, and stood unsteadily next to it for a moment. She grabbed her Zanpakuto from against the wall and stumbled to the door, opening it just a crack to peek into the hallway. The only person there was Hisagi, and he was sleeping pretty heavily by the looks of it. She pulled the door open and slipped out, shunpoing past her sleeping Fukutaichou.

She walked out into the street. The night was very hot. She made her way slowly away from the clinic until she heard a huge crash nearby. She dashed off toward it until she came to the river

It seemed quiet there, but something was definitely out of place. The water a little way from the shore rippled even though there was no breeze. She stood on the bank and watched out over the water as a figure slowly emerged. It was huge, bigger than any Hollow she'd ever seen. It was hard to see exactly what it looked like in the darkness,

"Mmmmm…." A deep voice echoed, "What a delicious smelling Reiatsu…"

Yuki held up her Zanpakuto, ready to strike at any moment. The hollows eyes glowed red in the darkness,

"You will be a good meal I think…"

"GONE?" Toushiro yelled, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?"

"I woke up, and she wasn't here…" Hisagi said, a little bit too casually.

"THERE'S A HOLLOW AROUND HERE! SHE'LL BE KILLED!"

"We shouldn't stand around here arguing then…." He replied, "We should go find her."

"I guess you're right…" Toushiro said, calming down a little, "But you'd better be looking for her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing…For now…" He said as he walked out.

Hisagi stood there for a moment, then went out the back door, it lead to an alleyway behind the house,

"Nice job, Hisagi-San." A voice whispered from a dark corner.

"Okay…But that's all I'm doing, Tousen. I refuse to help Aizen anymore."

"You can't refuse."

Hisagi Spun around to face him, "What?"

"By doing this, you entered into a contract with Aizen-Sama, just the same as when Hinamori "agreed" to help him."

"I'm-"

Tousen walked into the light. He looked so much different in his Arrancar type clothes, "You dare to defy me?" His voice was dark and frightening.

"I'm not Loyal to you…I won't hurt my Taichou anymore."

"She took over for me Hisagi, she's making SeiReiTei stronger…She must be taken out for Aizen's plan to succeed."

The hollow threw his clawed hand toward Yuki. She tried to dodge out of the way, but wasn't fast enough and was caught, impaled on the long, sharp claws. They were about 3 feet long, and almost a foot across. 3 of the 4 of them had gone through her torso and right leg.

Crimson blood dripped onto the ground, staining the grass red. The hollow took a deep breath,

"What luck…A shinigami…With high reiatsu…" It chuckled deeply, wrenching it's arm to one side to free it's claws of her. She landed in the water a short distance away. She carefully stood up and stumbled forward a couple of steps, now soaking wet,

"You bastard…" She growled.

"Oho…A strong Shinigami…But I'm not scared of you."

She held up her Zanpakuto, "Karera Ni Koraseru!" She shouted, "Korihoshi!"

The sword instantly changed. The blade was now about 4 feet long, starting out a little thinner at the end, and getting to be about a foot thick at the tip. Two chunks were taken out of the end, making it look almost like a bite had been taken out of it. It had a long purple hilt, with a star at the end. Several colorful star charms hung off of it.

She smirked, "That's not all my friend…"

The hollow made in intregued noise, as he watched her. She held the blade straight out in front of her,

"Ban…Kai!"

Once again the blade changed. This time it looked a little like Zangetsu, more of a Knife than a sword. The hilt was built into the blade and stuck a little over a foot out of the blade, wrapped in a lavendar cloth, the blade split into two at the end, and was covered in a coat of ice. The star charms had multiplied as well. Two large wings of ice sprouted from her back , veins of blood flowing through them, as if they were alive. A long cat like ice tail grew as well. She glared at him,

"How's this?"

The hollow did not respond, it just stood shocked.

She jumped up into the air while he was stunned and brought her sword down apon it. As a last effort it slammed its claws into her blade, but to no avail, she sliced it right in two and landed back on the shore once again. Her Bankai immediately disappeared and she fell to her knees, looking at the blade, "Korihoshi…" it had a big chunk taken out of it from the claw of the hollow, "You should rest now…" She put it back into its sheath, and collapsed.

She had nearly hit the ground when she felt arms wrap around her. She opened her eyes to see Ichigo there. Her wounds were bleeding all over his robes. With every breath she took, a small groan of pain came with it. She closed her eyes. Ichigo knew he should probably try and keep her awake,

"So…Your bankai…It's pretty amazing."

"You…Think so…?" She aked between gasps for air.  
"Yeah, it was impressive."

Just then they both heard frantic footsteps running toward them. She opened her eyes just in time to see Toushiro slide to his knees next to them,

"Yuki…" He said in a very meek little voice, he was afraid to even look at her. He could feel enough of her pain through the bond they had as twins, he really didn't want to feel anymore.

Yuki closed her eyes again, her breathing becoming very shallow. Toushiro took her hand carefully in his, it was ice cold. Just then a shadow fell over them, they both looked up to see,

"Dad?" Ichigo exclaimed.

Isshin stood there, looking like a doctor as he usually did, "Yo, Ichigo." He said casually, "We should get her back to the clinic now."

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'll explain later. Right now we have bigger things to worry about." He turned and walked away, "Let's get outta here."

The two of them jumped up, Ichigo carrying Yuki in his arms.

*Korihoshi means Icy Stars

*Her call to Transform it to it's Shikai is Freeze Them

Just so you know, if you didn't know already, when I originally wrote this fic, it was about the time that Aizen left for Hueco Mundo, and all of that had just started. So this story is obviously going to be different than how things actually turned out in the manga. ^^


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When they got her back they worked very quickly to get her stablized again. Isshin had gotten Ichigo to help him. It took them several hours before she was to the point where they could leave her side for a few minutes without having to go right back. When she was finally stable, Isshin left the room and instructed Ichigo to do the same so that Toushiro could be alone with her.

He sat there for a long time, thinking about what their next plan of action should be, until she jolted awake,

"Shiro-Nii…?" She whispered as she blinked a few times, slowly remembering where she was.

"Yeah…I'm here."

"Where's Hisagi…?"

"We…Don't know where he is…"

"What..?"

"He's gone…We have our suspicions…but"

"It's Aizen…He took Hinamori…Now they have Hisagi too…"

"That means Izuru will probably be next."

Yuki tried to sit up, but Toushiro pushed her back down,

"I'll talk to the other Taichou about it. You rest, I'll put Kurosaki, Abarai, and Matsumoto in charge of making sure you're safe."

He put his hand over hers, and immediately noticed something, "You used your Bankai…?"

"…I had no choice…"

"But it steals so much of your Reiatsu…"

"I know what I did…It would've killed me otherwise." She winced, it was getting very painful for her to speak. He squeezed her hand a little, "In your condition it'll take awhile for all that Reiatsu to come back…And even longer for you to heal up…" He sighed, "Rest…rest is all I can say."

"I don't need-"

"Yes you do!" He said, suprising himself with how harsh that sounded, "Sorry…"

"No…You're right…" She rolled over onto her side, letting out a small painful groan as she did. After just a few seconds she was out once again. Toushiro sighed, "Now to make sure she stays safe..."

Toushiro stood in front of the communication screen they had set up in Orihime's apartment. He'd instructed Renji, Matsumoto, and Ichigo to stand guard on Yuki's room, and they had little choice but to do what he said. Ukitake stood on the other side of the screen with his arms crossed, he looked very tired,

"What's your report Hitsugaya-Taichou?"

"We have reason to believe that Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen are claiming their Fukutaichou and taking them to Hueco Mundo."

"But I thought Hinamori-"

"It seems Hisagi is gone now too."

"Hisagi?"

"Tousen's gotten ahold of him."

Ukitake glared, "We'll put Izuru under heavy guard. We can't let Ichimaru get anywhere near him, he would submit to easily."

"Please do, Matsumoto would be angry with me if I didn't try my hardest to protect her other drinking buddy…" He was embarassed to say this, but he knew it was true.

"Right. And how is Yuki-Taichou doing?"

"She was injured pretty badly. She used her Bankai…"

"Her Bankai?"

"Yes…She lost most of her Reiatsu…So until it comes back, she'll pretty much be on bed rest."

"I understand…" He sighed, "I can't believe all of this is happening…She was the only one besides Hisagi who had the guts to stand up and take the place of Taichou…"

"Yeah…"

"Anyway…We can send you some reinforcements if you'd like."

"I think we'll be alright for now, I'll contact you later with an updated report."

"Right, I'll discuss the issue with the others and we'll figure out what to do next here as well." He turned, "Good luck."

"You too." Toushiro replied as the screen went black, he let out a long sigh.

Renji sat next to Yuki's bed in a chair they'd sat up there for the gaurds. He and Matsumoto took turns sitting in the room since Ichigo had school during the day and had to sleep at night, so he only gaurded her for a few hours everyday. Yuki tossed and turned in her sleep, sweat rolling down her face from the pain. He patted her face lightly with a damp cool cloth,

"How did I get roped into sitting here all night?" He turned to put the cloth back, and turned back to find Yuki staring at him, "Am I that bothersome to you, Abarai-San?"

He cleared his throat, horrified, "N-no…Of course not…Hitsugaya-Taichou."

"Oh good…" She paused to cough, "I wouldn't want to inconvienience you…and what's with all this Hitsugaya-Taichou nonsence…I'm Yuki-Taichou…Toushiro is Hitsugaya-Taichou…"

He sighed, "Sorry about that…Yuki-Taichou."

"Don't worry, I won't tell Kuchiki-Taichou what you said."

"Thank you…" He said, a little relieved.

"What's…been happening?"

"You've only been out for a few days…Not much has changed, only that Izuru is being closely gaurded in SeiReiTei."

"I hope it works…" She paused, "A couple of days?"  
"Seems like longer, hm?"

"I suppose so…" She didn't really know what to say, she didn't know Renji very well.

It was a few minutes before Renji spoke again, "Oh! It's almost two! Kurosaki-San will be in to check on you soon, I should go…" He stood, "I'll be back as soon as he's finished."

"Right."

He quickly left the room.

Yuki looked up at the cold white celing, "Two a.m…" She sighed, "Ugh…" She poked her self, "Heal faster…" She quickly realized how much that hurt and cringed.

Just then Isshin walked in the door,

"Ah, you are awake." He smiled, "You must really be quite powerful to be enduring all the pain you're in." He turned to check her vital signs and wrote them down, then turned back to her, "I'm sorry about your Fukutaichou…"

"Yeah…It's alright…" She took a deep breath, "I have everyone here that'll help me…And I'll get him back somehow…"

"You're right. Who knows…Maybe he'll come back on his own."

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy."

He put the cool cloth back on her forehead, "Everything will turn out for the best."

"Heh, you're probably right." She said, with a little wince, "Now if only I was back on my feet."

"From what I hear, Toushiro says that will take a little while because of your Bankai? So we'll just have to wait, these things take time." He went to the door, "I'll go do some research on some techniques to maybe get your Reiatsu up a little faster, but I can't promise anything," He opened it, "I'll send Renji back in now."

"Right…Thanks…" She said as he left.

Isshin went back into the house to find Ichigo sitting at the kitchen table, he was the only person in the house who was still awake. He looked up when Isshin came into the room, "Dad…" He said in an angry flat voice.

"Ichigo…" He responded with the same tone. He walked past him and was nearly to the stairs when Ichigo spoke again,

"Why?"

He stopped, "Hm?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were a Shinigami?"

"It's not important." He said as he tried to go up the stairs, but Ichigo wouldn't let him,

"It is important, it pretty much tells me how I got my power…"

"Yes, that is true." He sighed, walking back to the table, "Why do you need to know so badly?"  
"I just want to know why you had to hide it. You knew I could see spirits, and I'm sure you knew I had Shinigami powers. So why hide it?"

"I was banished Ichigo, I'm not allowed to just flaunt my power all over the place. It's a rare occasion that I use it at all. An I couldn't show you anyway, because technically we aren't supposed to be able to have children, it was by some miracle that you three were born at all…I wouldn't have felt right because of that…"

Ichigo scowled, "Like that's any different now?"

"I didn't know you'd be at the river. Yuki was in danger and, like I thought, was in no condition to fight. If you hadn't have been there, it would have all been the same. Nothing would have changed, and nothing would ever change."

"I guess…"

"Yeah…" Isshin put his hand on top of Ichigo's orange hair and ruffled it a little, "You should go to bed soon, it's late."

Ichigo smacked his hand away, "Cut that out."

Isshin walked back to the stairs, "Be careful Ichigo…What's to come is going to be much harsher than anything you've been through yet." He walked up the stairs, leaving Ichigo there alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Over the next few weeks a lot of things happened. The most recent being the abduction of Orihime by the Espada. Everyone went into a panic when they'd heard the news about this. It was especially horrifying for Ichigo, he had been the last person she'd seen, and he didn't even know it at the time. He, Chad and Ishida immediately went to Urahara and within 24 hours were on their way to Hueco Mundo.

This left the others to train and prepare for the events that were about to take place at some point in the near future. Yuki wasn't yet able to be on her feet, though her Reiatsu had returned and she was healing more and more rapidly everyday. She was eager to get started with her own training, but everyone kept telling her to take it slow. This annoyed her, but she knew they were right.

The weather had been getting even warmer lately with summer quickly approaching, and although it was very warm, something seemed to be chilling her to the bones. She just didn't know what.

She sat in her bed, on a particularly warm day, the sun coming in through her open window and the breeze blowin gher curtains ever so slightly. Her lunch was due at any moment now, and she was hoping for something tasty. Then, right on schedual she heard a knock on the door. It opened slowly and in came Toushiro trying to balance a food tray with one arm and open the door with the other. He almost dropped it once, but managed to get it sat down across her lap before he did,

"'Bout time." She said, frowning.

"Yeah Yeah." He said as he sat down in a chair next to her bed, "There was a small delay. Someone found out Renji was trying to cook for you."

He lifted the lid off of her soup, revealing that his fingers were covered in band-aids. He snapped his hand back when she noticed her staring,

"Yeah…I…Had some trouble with the knife…" He muttered.

She giggled and looked down at her tray. She had a bowl of Miso soup, a huge bowl of steamed rice and a large plate of tempura fried shrimp. Her face lit up as she raised her chopsticks and started shoveling food into her mouth,

"I take it it's good?"

She looked up at him, a shrimp sticking out of her mouth, "Yes…When did you learn how to cook?"

"Yuzu taught me how to make some things…"

"Heh, I see." She said as she started shoveling food into her mouth again.

It was quite awhile before she was finished. She was trying to eat fast and savor the food at the same time. This didn't go well, so she just stuck to savoring it. Toushiro waited patiently for her to finish, not wanting to bother her.

When she was done she pushed the tray aside,

"Yuki…" Toushiro started.

She looked up at him, "Hm?"

"Are you feeling better today?"

She could tell he was afraid that she wouldn't be, "Yes, why?"

"Kurosaki-San…Wanted me to see if you felt like getting out of bed for awhile today?"

Her eyes lit up, "REALLY?"

"Yeah, if you think you're ready to."

"Of course!"

She put the tray down on the bedside table, then moved her light blue blanket aside. She was then stopped by the sudden pain of moving too much all at once.

Toushiro winced, "Yeah…you might want to take it a little slower…"

She nodded, her excitement fading a little. Toushiro helped her up and to straighten her hakama a little. She was still bandaged up around her torso, so she didn't worry about that. Her legs were weakened from being in bed for so long, so he helped her to balance herself,

"You okay?" He asked before doing anything further.

"Yeah…Great…" She said quietly. He was pretty sure she was lying, but he didn't inqure further.

They walked outside where Isshin was waiting for them. It was a beautiful day, made all the better by not having to be in bed anymore. She smiled when the warm wind hit her face,

"Finally on your feet I see." A voice said from behind her, she turned to see Renji,

"Ah, Abarai-San."

"Just call me Renji already…"

"Sorry, Renji."

"I guess I should get going, I can't keep Kurosaki waiting forever...See you all when we get back."

They all waved as he left, then Yuki turned to Toushiro,

"He's going to Hueco Mundo? How?"

"Urahara prepared some kind of gate for them to go through. It's apparently in his training area, under the store."

Yuki looked as if she were deep in thought for a moment, then released herself from Toushiro's grasp,

"I'm gonna go see Urahara." And she shunpoed off before anyone could even react.

It was a short trip to the shop. She opened the door to find Urahara sitting on the floor fanning himself while Ururu and Ginta had a snack. He snapped his fan shut as she walked inside,

"Finally up and around, I see." He stood and walked around her in a circle, "You seem well enough, shall I train you?"

She was speechless, amazed that he'd known why she'd come. She blinked a couple of times then opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first,

"We'll start right now, hm?"

He lead her back to the ladder leading down to the training room. She leaned over the edge, it was a really long way down. He walked up behind her and pushed her in, then jumped in himself. She slowly got up after hitting the ground rather hard, and there in front of her, was the gate to Hueco Mundo. She stared at it for a moment, then turneed back to Urahara who gave her a suspicious look,

"Stay away from that gate…"

She stood up and he noticed a small amount of blood coming through her bandages, but he paid it no mind since it wasn't bothering her,

"No Zanpakuto?" He asked.

"This was a spur of the moment decision, I didn't have it with me…"

"Very well, we'll do hand to hand then."

She nodded.

He unsheathed Benihime and held it out in front of him, "Ready?"  
She got into a defensive stance, "Yeah."

He ran at her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Yuki and Urahara trained for the entire day until it began to get dark outside,

"That's enough for today." Urahara instructed, putting Benihime away.

Yuki nodded, breathing heavily. She'd done very well for being out of commission for over a month. Little more than a scratch was on her,

"Take as long as you like to rest," Urahara said, walking back to the ladder, "There's food for you when you wanna come up." He climbed up and was gone.

Yuki sat for a moment to catch her breath before focusing her attention on the gate again. She figured now was the best time to go if she was going to go, Urahara would probably be busy for awhile. She stood up and made her way toward it, knowing that she would have to be very careful without her Zanpakuto, although with them being occupied with the others who were there, there was less of a chance of her being noticed. She took one last look up the ladder, to make sure Urahara was gone, then sprinted through the gate.

It was very quiet inside, she didn't dare make a sound here, there could be hollows around. She slowly made her way down the path to Hueco Mundo.

It was an incredibly long walk, especially for someone who was still not in the best condition, but she finally made it. It was pretty disappointing to see, nothing but a vast white desert, though she didn't really know what she expected to see anyway. She sat down in the sand to try and devise a plan. She started doodling a little in the sand when she noticed a shadow passing over her. She looked up to find a huge Hollow bird circling around her, coming closer and closer to the ground with each pass. It eventually landed just a few feet away from her.

It was huge, it's face was a skull with along pointed beak. It's long bony feathers and wings were mostly white with thin black stripes at the wing tips and across it's back. It turned and looked at her, and after a long moment of silence, it spoke,

"Why the hell are you out here?" It's voice was very whiny, and almost childish,

"I'm lost, is there any way you might be able to give me a lift?"

"Back to Arrancar?"

"Um…Yes."

It turned back around again, "Hop on."

She climbed up onto it's back, and within a few horrifying seconds, she was up in the air,

"So…" The bird started, "Has Aizen-Sama said anything about me?"

She had no idea what to tell it, "Oh…Yeah…He talks about you all the time. Only good stuff…"

She knew he'd probably get killed for helping her, so she figured one moment of happiness wasn't so bad. The hollow didn't respond but he smiled.

A very short time later she could see the huge white building in the distance,

"We're here." It called as it landed by the only entrance around the whole building.

She hopped down, "Thank you." She said, and ran inside.

Aizen sat at a long table with Ichimaru, Tousen, and the two Fukutaichou,

"Another guest has arrived." Aizen said, "And all of my greeters are busy." He glanced at Hisagi, who's eyes wandered around so he didn't have to look back at him,

"Hisagi-San." Aizen finally said, "You'll take care of it, right?"

He glanced at him, "I can't…"

Tousen smacked him in the head with his hand, "Don't disrespect Aizen-Sama."

"Tousen…" He said, as if to calm him down, then he turned back to Hisagi, "You don't have to do anything but lead her to me, I promise, you don't have to hurt her."

"But you will."

"We'll see…" He stood, "Now go, pull her into a dark corner, away from prying eyes that might be lurking around. I'll be keeping an eye on you…" He said sternly.

Hisagi reluctantly bowed, "Yes…Aizen..Sama…"Then turned and left.

Yuki felt like she'd walked into a maze. She'd walked all over the place, yet had run into absolutely no one. She stopped and leaned against a wall for a short rest. Just then she heard loud footsteps echoing through the hall on the other side of the wall. She was about ready to run when Hisagi came around the corner,

"Shuuhei?"

"Yuki-Taichou." He turned, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me…C'mon."

He started walking and she tagged along behind, hoping that he hadn't been sent to kill her or something,

"It seems Aizen has rubbed off on you a little." She said quietly.

She felt like a prisoner being lead to her execution,

"What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded.

"Ah…that's the Shuuhei I know…"

He sighed and lead her to a hallway with a dead end,

"No way out…" She thought.

"I'm really sorry about this." Hisagi suddenly said.

"About wha…"

He suddenly shoved her back against the wall and pinned her there, then he leaned down just enough so that his mouth was right up to her ear,

"Aizen plans to do something with you. I don't know what. But I'll get you out as soon as I can…" He backed off a little as Aizen appeared behind them,

"That's quite enough Hisagi…" He pushed him back against the opposite wall, "I'll deal with you later."

He grabbed Yuki by the throat and pulled her up so they were eye to eye,

"I've always wondered wht it would be like to be able to fully turn a Shinigami into a hollow…Now I can find out…"

Yuki's eyes widened, "No…"

"Oh yes…" He turned to go, but Hisagi grabbed onto his robe. He turned,

"You have something to say to me?"

He started to say something, but quickly decided against it and let him go,

"I thought as much."

He turned again and disappeared, along with Yuki.

Hisagi slammed his fists into the floor, causing it to crack, "DAMNIT!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Aizen appeared once again in a very bright room. The walls were bright white, just as the rest of the building was, but the lights reflected off of it so brightly here, it was almost blinding to look at. It was a fairly small, medical type of room. A large white table sat in the very center, a white sheet tossed over it. All kinds of strange instruments surrounded the table, not many that she recognized as actual medical devices. They were all used for his Arrancar experiments.

She struggled against his grasp when she noticed that most of the instruments were long sharp metal things, and if he chose to use them, which, knowing Aizen, he would, he wouldn't give her the pleasure of an anesthetic. She quickly noticed two figures standing on the other side of the table. One was Ichimaru, and the other Hinamori.

Aizen slammed her down on the table, in an effort to get her to stop moving so much. He quickly bound down her arms and legs with large metal cuffs,

"I see you're still wearing bandages," He said in a quiet tone, "Could it be that you're not quite healed up yet?"

She just growled in response.

He walked out of her view for a moment, he returned quickly and leaned over her,

"It's really too bad, you just became a Taichou, and now you'll be part Hollow."

He turned her head to the side and ran his finger down the side of her neck. He motioned to Hinamori, who handed him an enormous needle and a bottle of thick white liquid,

"This is what I use to…Change Hollows to Arrancar…and it's what will change you into a hollow…"

He carefully filled the needle with the liquid, and gave her a little smirk,

"Here comes the best part…"

She felt Ichimaru grab ahold of her head and hold it to the side so her neck was exposed. Then Aizen carefully stuck the needle into her juggular vein, and began to inject the liquid. She gasped as it burned terribly as it flowed into her body. It seemed to take forever before he'd finished, and pulled the needle out. Ichimaru let go of her head, but she didn't move.

Aizen walked around the room, taking note of all of the other instruments he had on shelves all around the room. A box of long thin metal spikes seemed to have caught his eye. He took a few out and walked back over to her, "These should keep you here…"

He slowly pushed one through her upper arm, and through the table below. She didn't make a sound, afraid he'd try and come up with something to keep her quiet. He quickly moved on to the other arm. After a moment he checked them both to make sure they were secure,

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere now…and if you do…at least it'll be interesting."

And with that, he left the room, the other two following along behind.

He found Hisagi waiting right outside and stopped when he spotted him,

"You can go in and watch her turn into a Hollow if you'd like."

He gave him a smirk and continued on his way. As soon as he was out of sight, Hisagi rushed into the room and over to her side. She opened her eyes to look at him,

"What do you want?" She breathed, her eyes glowing with anger.

He knelt down next to the bed, "I'm sorry Taichou…I didn't know he'd do this to you…"

"You lead me into this! You betrayed me!"

He put his head down on the table, "If there was anything I could do…"

"Get me out of here."

"What?"

"You want me held down like a dog while I die here? You save me…I'll consider forgiving you."

"But…"

"But what?"

He stood a moment, just looking at her. Then he checked out the spikes and carefully began to remove them, one at a time. They were put in pretty precisely, so the wounds she got were barely bleeding. He finally finished removing them, then freed her arms and legs. She slowly sat up and slid herself off of the table, rubbing her wrists. She walked over to the door and looked over her shoulder,

"Thank you, Hisagi-San." She turned.

"What'd you call me?"

"You heard me." She said as she left the room.

She ran aimlessly around the building for what seemed like forever, still never meeting or seeing anyone. She'd just rounded a corner when she heard a door creak nearby. She ran back around and peeked out just enough to see.

A tall, thin Espada walked into the hall from a room in the hallway she'd just left. Under his horned mask he had black hair. Two long black markings lay under his eyes. He held a tray in his hands,

"I'm glad you enjoied the Tea, Orihime-San."

He gave a small bow as the door closed, and turned to walk in the opposite direction. He took only a few steps before he stopped and looked back over his shoulder. Yuki stood just around the corner, holding her breath. After a moment he figured what he had sensed was nothing and continued on his way. Yuki sighed, greatful that he hadn't seen her. She quickly made her way to the door, knocked, and went inside.

Orihime jumped when she came in, afraid that the Espada had returned for some reason or another, but was relieved to find the small, white haired, shinigami standing there instead,

"Yuki-San? What are you doing here?" She asked urgently. Yuki quietly closed the door, she'd only ment Orihime once before, when she was still on bed rest and Ichigo was watching her. She'd brought her along one time so that she could meet her,

"I came to see if I could retrieve my Fukutaichou." She sighed and sat down against the wall, "But I was set up…and now I have to get out of here." She looked up at Orihime, "Is it okay if I hide here for a bit?"

"I don't mind, Oh…" She said, scanning her arms, "You're bleeding."

Yuki looked at her arms as well, a small trail of blood was running from her wounds and down to her fingers. They had been doing this for some time, but she hadn't noticed until just then,

"Oh yeah." She said, as if it really didn't matter.

"Well, let me at least try to heal you…"

"They'll find out I'm here for sure if you do that, they know your Reiatsu."

"It's alright, they can't touch you here…"

Yuki sighed, "Alright, you can try, but be careful. I can't have you getting hurt because of me, you're friends would never forgive me…Especially Kurosaki."

She didn't reply to this, but she blushed a little at the sound of Ichigo's name. She let out a small sigh and gestured for Yuki to sit on her bed, so she did. She placed her hands over Yuki and muttered an incantation. Her hands began to glow gold as she started to heal her, they gave off a calming warmth.

Orihime worked for a few minutes on healing her. Then they heard what Yuki feared most, loud, clomping footsteps coming down the hall toward the room. Orihime pulled her hands back as the footsteps got closer. Yuki jumped up,

"You can hide in my closet!" Orihime instructed, "But you have to be completely silent." Yuki nooded as she ran into the closet and Orihime shut the door just as the room door opened. Yuki listened from inside as the footsteps came into the room,

"I see yer all alone again." A familiar voice spoke.

"Y-yes Ichimaru-San…Why, may I ask, Have you come to see me?"

"Aizen is wondering if you've seen any Shinigami around?"

"N-no…"

He opened one eye, "Yer Lyin' to me…"

"What? No…I'm-"

"That blood on your nice blanket there….I assume it isn't yours."

"Bu-But I-"

He pinned her against the wall, "Where is she?"

"Not here, I assure you."

He slammed his fist into the wall, making Orihime jump, "I will only ask you once more…Where is she?"

"She isn't here!"

He backed away from her, "Then you wouldn't mind if I conducted a small search?"

"Of course I would. I don't want the likes of you going through my things!"

He leaned forward until he was nose to nose with her, "It's really too bad you have no choice."

Yuki scooched as close to the back of the closet as she could, a cold sweat began to break out a little on her face. He checked a few places quickly, then stopped in front of her closet,

"That's odd…I smell blood…" He ripped it open. Nothing,

"Wha?" He said, standing there stunned.

He stood like that for a moment until something dripped down onto his nose. He looked up to find Yuki clinging to the celing above him. He reached up, plucked her down, and threw her across the room, tearing up the floor and slamming her into the opposite wall, making a hole there. A look of shock remained on her face after it was all over. Ichimaru grinned,

"You're alive after all. I was beginning to think you'd made a fool of me."

She tried to stand up, but the way he'd thrown her had done something to her legs.

He slowly walked up to her, "As much as Aizen wanted to see you turn into a Hollow, You're too much of a threat to let go. So he's opted to kill you instead."

"I see…" She said, standing slowly, her legs beginning to work again, "I don't think you can, because if I'm going, you're coming with me."

At hearing this his face twisted into an evil grin, "Yer on," Then he noticed something, "But you don't even have yer Zanpakuto."

"I'm just as skilled bare handed as with my blade."

He unsheathed his, "Al'ite."

Orihime backed against the wall, she didn't want to get tangled up in it anymore than she wanted anyone else to. The two shinigami stood staring at eachother, looking for a weakness or an opening, but neither could see one. A mere second later a bird flew up from outside the window, startling Orihime, but sending the Shinigami charging toward one another.

With one attack, it was over. Yuki put her hand on her chest. Ichimaru fell to the floor, his body looked as if an animal had torn him apart,

"You're just as skilled as you say…" He said in barely a whipser, "But you were unable to take me down."

"What?" She said, taking a deep and painful breath.

"You've failed to take me down..." His voice was beginning to trail off, "Remember that…" He disappeared.

Yuki fell to her knees. He'd managed to give her a fairly deep slash across the chest, and it was beginning to bleed, it hurt more than any other wound she'd ever had. Orihime knelt down next to her, "Let me see?"

Yuki slowly moved her arm and let Orihime examine the wound,

"I-it's shaped like a cross…"

Yuki tried to look down, but even the smallest movements were complete torture. Orihime tried to touch it, but was blocked by some invisible force,

"Oh…I can't…" She said, beginning to get a little frustrated.

Yuki began to feel strange, nausious and dizzy. Her head was pounding. She reached up and put her hand on the right side of her head, "Ugh…"

Orihime looked up at her, "Are you okay?"

"My head…" Was all she could say before her hair began to turn black at the roots.

She put her other hand up as the pain began to swell. Small pain filled noises escaped her lips as a hollow mask began to form over the left side of her face. It was catlike with large, jagged teeth. Orihime moved away from her, afraid of what might happen when the pain stopped and she regained her senses.

Yuki dug her fingers into her scalp as if trying to rip out the pain and a moment later let out an ear shattering scream. Then, suddenly, it was all over. She returned to normal and fell unconsious onto the floor. Orihime moved back to her side and rolled her over onto her back. She tried once again to get her hands close enough to heal here, but was rejected again. She looked around frantically,

"Oh…What should I do…?"

Aizen sat in a large comfortable chair in his quarters. He was trying to relax a little before he had to go out and continue with is work. He was daydreaming a little when a loud knock on the door snapped him out of it,

"What is it?"

Tousen slid the door open and walked in, closing it behind him again,

"It's about Ichimaru."

"What'd he do now?"

"He's been fataly wounded."

A rare, momentary look of shock overtook his face, then was gone,

"When?"

"Just a few moments ago…They're trying to treat him, but he's stubborn…and his wounds are…"

Aizen leaned on his hand, "You can go."

"But Aizen, what…"

"Just go, I'll figure out what to do with him later."

Tousen bowed and left. Aizen shifted in his chair,

"Ichimaru's been wounded, hm? That Shinigami is more powerful than I thought. This complicates things…"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When Yuki opened her eyes, Hisagi was hovering over her,

"Hisagi, wha?"

"We're in SeiReiTei…I got you out of Hueco Mundo…"

"How…Why..?"

"That isn't important." He sighed, "Unohana is treating you personally. She's trying to figure out what Ichimaru did to you…"

"What about Orihime?"

"They got to her, but she refused to come along. She was afraid for their safety. They're all being treated as well…And when Hitsugaya-Taichou heard about it, he came back right away."

"What?"

"He's gone to speak with Unohana-Taichou. He'll be back soon."

She sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was worry and involve Toushiro. Hisagi's eyes were filled with worry, even though his face stayed stern,

"…Taichou?"

She turned her head to look at him,

"Are you going to let me stay as your Fukutaichou?"

"You've done some terrible things Shuuhei…I'll talk to the other Taichou first…We'll see what happens."

He lowered his head, "I understand."

Just then the door swung open and Toushiro ran in and over to her side,

"You're awake!"

She just nodded. He sat down on the edge of the bed,

"Everyone is happy that you've wounded Ichimaru so badly…They're saying he might not survive. It weakens their side. Plus it's making you pretty popular."

She just smiled in reply, not sure what to say about that.

He snapped his fingers as if remembering something, "That's right, Unohana-Taichou said you should heal up just fine. It's your Reiatsu that seems to be effected by whatever Ichimaru did…She says she can't really do anything until she sees the full effect."

"Right…Thanks Shiro-Nii."

The three of them sat in awkward silence for a moment until a knock at the dore made all of them jump a bit. Ukitake slowly entered the room,

"And how's our little patient doing?"

Yuki glared, "Little?"

"Sorry sorry," He said laughing a bit, "Anyway, how're you feeling?"

"As well as can be expected…"

"Great! How do you feel about going back to the other world?"

"I…Don't know about that…"

"C'mon. We want you to start going to school there with the others, they can watch your back that way, and we can still have you there like we wanted."

"But what if-"

"No buts, it's already been decided." He pulled an armful of candy out of his robe sleeve and dumped it onto her bed, "A gift from me to you." He smiled and walked back to the door, "We'll send you off as soon as you're all better."

She waved to him as he left and turned to look at the candy pile,

"They only sent him in here to sofen the blow of having to go back…" Hisagi remarked.

Yuki unwrapped a piece of chocolate and shoved it into her mouth,

"Well it worked."

She sat herself up a little, "School hmm…" She popped another piece of candy into her mouth, "Great…"

Over the next few days everyone came to see her, bringing her flowers and little get well gifts. She'd even gotten a bottle of sake from Matsumoto, which she gave to Hisagi. And without fail, Ukitake came by every afternoon with more candy, telling her it would help her to get better faster.

The day she was released from Unohana's care, Rukia came to see her, along with Matsumoto. They had come to her quarters to spend some time with her. Rukia carried a shopping bag with her,

"What's that?" Yuki asked, still eating the seemingly endless supply of sweets she'd received,

"Your uniform," She took it out of the bag, "You'll have to try it on for us. She said, "It might be a little big." She handed it to her. She took it and went into her bedroom to change.

She came back out a moment later. The uniform was a summer one. She wore the shirt untucked and the tie undone, making it look almost too casual. It was a little big, but not enough for anyone to really notice.

Matsumoto clapped her hands together, "You're so cute! Taichou never lets me dress him up!"

Yuki's eye twiched a little, "T-thanks…"

9 Chapters! Yay!

I hope you're liking it so far ^-^


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next morning she was on her way to school with Rukia, Ichigo, Toushiro, and Matsumoto. Renji all out refused to go, and Ikkaku and Yumichika had returned to SeiReiTei, they'd been called back by Kenpachi.

Yuki pulled on her uniform collar, "Why's it gotta be so tight…?"

Rukia smacked her hand, "Because it looks nicer that way, stop messing with it."

Yuki grumbled something under her breath.

It was a short trek to school. When they got there they walked straight into Ichigo's classroom, a loud commotion bursting out right before they entered. Ichigo slid the door open to find Keigo running around talking about what he would be doing over summer vacation. It was now a week before the vacation started and the whole class was excited about it. Keigo spun over to Ichigo,

"IchiGOOO" He stopped spinning when he got over to him, "You're coming to the beach with me this year, right?"

Ichigo started to say something, but Rukia pushed him out of the way,

"Yeah! We'll go!"

"Yay!" He exclaimed , once again spinning across the classroom.

Ichigo scowled down at Rukia, who gave him the most innocent look she could muster,

"What? We need a break."

Just then the teacher walked into the room, "Everyone sit down! We have a new student!"

They all sat down as quickly as they could, except Yuki, who stood in front of the room. The teacher sat down at her desk,

"Introduce yourself."

"Uh…My name is Hitsugaya Yuki, I look forward to learning with all of you." She bowed. She had to force a smile onto her face, which just made her look a little creepy.

"Very good, you can take a seat beside Toushiro there."

She nodded and went directly to her seat.

She had a very hard time paying attention in class until lunch. She didn't have any money with her, of course, so Toushiro went out and bought her lunch. He came back to the classroom with a huge bag full off all different kinds of bread. When he sat down he held it close to himself,

"Now," He said, crumpling the bag a little, "I know how you eat. This is for _both_ of us." He said sternly.

She nooded and he put the bag down. She reached into it and pulled out a handful of plastic covered bread. She looked at it for a moment, crinkled the plastic a little, then looked up at Toushiro,

"How do you get to it?"

He looked up from the bite he'd just taken, "What?"

She shook it violently, "It's trapped in here!"

He held out his hand, "Give it here."

She handed it to him and he promptly showed her how to open it. It came open with a little "pop" and he handed it back to her, "Can you do it yourself now?"

She took it, shoved the entire thing into her mouth, and nodded.

He slowly finished the bread he was eating, trying to enjoy it a little bit, and watched out the window, a few birds flew over through the clear blue sky. When he'd finished, he reached into the bag for another piece, only to find it completely empty. He turned back to see Yuki cheerily licking her fingers. A big vein popped out on his forehead,  
"YUKIIIIIII!"

She looked up at him, then back at the bag, "Oh…Shiro-Nii…" She paused, "Sorry…"

He just let out a small angry growl in response.

It was a very long day for the shinigami, who weren't used to spending their days cooped up in a classroom. It was sunset by the time they all got home. They all went to Ichigo's house for dinner, then Toushiro and Matsumoto went back to Orihime's for the night, they were still staying there since the Kurosaki house was a bit crowded.

Yuki sat in her little corner of the "Girls Only" room. She had so many fun things happen that day, just going to school was a new experience for her, and to top it all off she was now going on a summer trip as well. She wished she could stay in this world forever, enjoying herself without living with constant worry and fear, but she knew that her shinigami duties would be calling again soon.

This is the first chapter in a little comedic break. I thought the story kinda needed it, and I was trying to also kinda keep it in the mood of the series too. ^-^


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Summer Vacation!" Keigo yelled as the group stood in front of the train station. It consisted of Ichigo, Renji, Toushiro, Matsumoto, Yuki, Rukia, Tatsuki, Ishida, Chad and Kon (Who had stowed away in Rukia's bag). They were going to a beach front hotel, that Keigo could somehow afford two fancy rooms at. They were all decked out in summer attire, mostly tshirts and shorts. Ishida and Toushiro looked a little more dressed up, like they usually did. Rukia and Yuki wore dresses, Rukia in her whiete and blue short sleeved dress. Yuki wore an orange dress with a pink cat face on it and matching sandals that she'd borrowed from Yuzu.

It was about 8:00 in the morning, and everyone was still waking up, except for Keigo, who spun excitedly around them again and again. Finally Ichigo got fed up and smacked him on the back of the head. He stopped and looked up at Ichigo, big tears in his eyes,

"What was that for?"

"You have too much energy for this early in the day, that's what."

Just as he'd finished talking, their train pulled up and they all got on.

It wasn't as crowded as they'd expected, mostly because no students were going to school. Just a few businessmen sat along the care they got on to. Because it was so empty it was easy for them to find seats where they could all sit together. They only had to wait a moment before the train got on its way. Ichigo turned to Keigo who had finally calmed down,

"How far is this place?"

"We'll be there and swimming by noon." He said, a goofy smile on his face. He was obviously picturing Matsumoto in her swimwear.

The train ride seemed to last forever. Keigo had gotten Rukia and Matsumoto into a game of cards, for which Matsumoto had brought out a bottle of Sake and decided the loser each game had to take a drink. Needless to say, Keigo was pretty drunk. He probably would've gotten into trouble if anyone else on the train would've noticed.

After the train ride finally ended it was a short taxi drive to the huge hotel. They were all shocked, standing there with their mouths hanging open,

"What's wrong with everyone..?" Keigo asked, still a little drunk, "I can afford nice things sometimez…Plus…my sister wanted me out of the house for awhile I think…" He laughed.

He started marching toward the front door of the hotel, followed, reluctantly, by the others.

Inside was even more impressive than the outside had been. The lobby was huge, all around them were gift shops and restaurants. Keigo, who had already gone to the front desk, came over and handed Rukia a room key,

"Girls room is 502…Boys is 500..Les' go!" He said as he sped off to the elevator, followed closely by the excited girls, and the other guys trailing a long.

When they got to their rooms, everyone quickly settled in. They were staying there for an entire week. Matsumoto opened up the curtains that covered their room window. She found that it was actually a sliding door out onto a large balcony, you could see the entire beach from there. The beautiful white sand and clear blue water got her all excited, "Let's go swimming!"

Meanwhile in the guys room Keigo had passed out on the floor, and Kon was bouncing angrily around the room, "Why do I have to stay in this room? I want to be where the ladies are! In all their beautiful glory!"

Ichigo grabbed him, "Shut up or you won't be coming to the beach either."

He immediately snapped his mouth shut.

The rest of them got ready to head down to the beach, then snuck out of the room so they wouldn't wake Keigo. By the time they got down to the beach, the girls were already enjoying themselves. Matsumoto turned when she saw them walking toward them,

"Hiiiii!" She ran back up to the shore.

She was wearing a rather small swimsuit, which made her very bouncy, and embarassed Toushiro terribly. All of the guys blushed a little and tried to look away, except Toushiro, who simply ignored her. Kon on the other hand ran toward her, and got smacked into the sand.

She walked up to Toushiro, "Not even a little interested?"

"No…Why must you act this way?"

She stuck a sexy pose for the other guys, who were sneaking little peeks at her,

"Cause it's fun," She grabbed onto his wrist, "C'mon! Play with us!"

She dragged him back to the water, ignoring his protests the entire way.

They spent the entire day palying around at the beach, when it began to get dark out, the returned to the hotel. By this time Keigo had regained consiousness and was pissed off that they'd gone to the beach without him. Rukia, who was pretty much ignoring Keigo's whining, was looking at a pamphlet she'd found in the lobby. She immediately noticed something that interested her, "Hey guys!" She shouted, interrupting everything that was going on around her, "They've got a hot spring bath here! We should go!"

Matsumoto and Keigo were on board right away. The others had to be pursuaded, but all ended up agreeing to go.

Hope you're enjoying this part of the story so far. It's kinda fun to write, hehe ^-^


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

After dinner at a small sushi restaurant in the hotel, they made their way to the springs and stopped at the doors separating the mens and womens baths,

"Now boys," Matsumoto teased, "Don't try to peek now."

She gave them a little wink and went inside.

The girls quickly undressedc, except for Yuki, who was a little embarassed. Matsumoto turned,

"What's wrong, Yuki-Taichou?"

"N-nothing…"

"Then get on with it, we wanna get in."

"Go on ahead…I'll catch up."

"But…"

A small vein popped out on her forehead, "Please…"

They reluctantly did as she asked. She quickly undressed. Several huge scars covered her torso and back, the ones she'd gotten since she'd become a Taichou. She ran her fingers over them. They raised her skin a little. She then realized how much time she was wasting, quickly wrapped a towel around herself, and ran out to the springs.

They all looked up when she came out,

" 'Bout time." Tatsuki remarked.

"Sorry." She said, stepping into the warm water.

At it's deepest it came up to her chin, and she sat in it like that. Matsumoto was already drinking sake. Rukia was laying on the rocks surrounding the spring and Tatsuki just sat in the water looking at the sky.

It took Yuki a moment to realize just how good the water felt. She'd just begun to relax when they heard a rustling in the trees overhead. They could just make out a voice saying,

"Get the hell down from there, fool!"

"You'll be killed." Another said, very calmly.

"Shut up Guys!" A third said, closer this time, "They'll hear!"

Then there was a loud rustling and a huge splash. Keigo popped his head up out of the water, Kon on top of it,

"Yes! We made it!"

"Excuse me…" A voice said from behind him.

He froze, "Shit…" He slowly turned around to see the group of girls towering over him. Yuki was in the front, her hair matted down with water from being heavily splashed when he fell in. He swallowed hard as a face full of fists flew at him. The only thing the guys on the other side heard was a girly scream.

Toushiro sighed, "…Told you…"

After the incident in the spring they all went to a small establishment in the hotel. They all now wore comfy hotel robes and were piging out on snacks and sake. How Matsumoto could andle more than she'd had in the spring already, no one knew. Yuki drank tea instead. Although usually, like Matsumoto with Toushrio, Hisagi would make her drink sake with him.

Keigo cowered in a corner, barely sipping his. He was covered in bandages and his face was swollen up. He was disappointed that he'd failed his mission to see the girls. Renji and Ichigo were making fun of him in some slurred drunken song.

Yuki quietly observed everyone. They all looked so happy, even Toushiro, who was being force fed sake. It had been a very long time since she's actually been around happiness, it was n't needed too much in the world of Shinigami, they were always so serious. She once again wished a little that she could stay.

Toushiro looked over at her, "Yuki!"

She jumped, "Wha?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes…I'm fine."

He leaned forward, putting his arms on the table between them,

"You shouldn't wish for things that won't happen, you'll just be disappointed." He glanced over at Keigo, "I mean just look at him."

She giggled a little. She knew he was right.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The week went by very quickly for the group. Most of the nights were spent pretty much the same as the first. The days full of swimming. On the last night, Keigo had a surprise for everyone,

"Tonight," He said very dramatically, "We're going to a festival!"

The shinigami girls eyes lit up, they were wondering all week why they had been told to bring Yukata along with them. Matsumoto and Rukia squealed. Yuki tried to act calm and collected, but was unable to hide her obvious excitement. They were sitting at a table in the lobby when Keigo told them, so everyone around them looked up when the squealing started. It was evening and Keigo wanted to get there as soon as possible,

"We don't wanna miss anything, so let's all go get ready!"

He and the three overly excited girls took off toward the rooms, leaving the others to slowly follow.

The girls got back to the room and dug around in their bags, pulling out their Yukata. Rukias was black with tiny red and white flowers on it, a black and red obi to match. Matsumoto's was dark pink with cherry blossoms floating across it, the obi was an almost red pink with flowers at the ends. Yuki's was a dark peach color with shining pink butterflies on it, her obi was pink with white blossoms dotting it, she was very happy to be able to wear it, it had been many years since she'd been able to. Tatsuki's was black with bright orange Koi on it, her obi was red with water like ripples on it.

They quickly put them on, Rukia having to tie Yuki and Tatsuki's obi for them. Once they were all ready they skipped down to the lobby to meet everyone else. The guys all looked very nice in their Yukata, but everyone except Keigo looked very uncomfortable.

The festival was a very short walk from their hotel, at a small shinto shrine. It was full of activity, vendors, games, and food called to everyone. Keigo decided he and Kon would go find some of the shrine maidens,

"Okay," Ichigo said, taking charge, "We all meet back at the gate at ten, okay?"

"Yes, sir." They all replied, Matsumoto even gave a little salute.

They all quickly ran off in opposite directions, leaving Ichigo, Renji and Rukia there together.

Yuki made a stop at every booth she came across, buying souveniers, food, and even catching a goldfish. She skipped cheerily around until a strange presence called her attention away from the festival. She cautiously followed it past the temple and down a small hill to a tranquil moonlit koi pond. A strange glow floated over the top of it, making the water ripple. She tried to squint through the glow. She gasped as she noticed a tall, slender woman, dressed in shrine maiden's robes,

"A spirit…?"

She tried to get a little closer, but she brushed up against a bush, startling it. It turned and looked at her, slowly opening it's frighteningly huge eyes. It only watched her for a moment, and then it was gone, along with any presence of it at all. Yuki looked around,

"What the hell?"

She stood for a few moments, thinking maybe it would come back, but when it didn't she made her way back up to the shrine. She found as she walked that she wasn't the only one who had witnessed it. Several people stood around mumbling about it. They seemed to be afraid that if they talked to loudly about it, it might come back.

She quietly walked by a small group of people, some of whom worked at the shrine, who were talking about some sort of curse that came bout ever 100 years, and that's what the glow was. Also that if you got right up close and saw it, you'd die for sure. Yuki of course didn't believe any of this nonsence, but she did take it as a possible ill omen.

The group all met back up again at the appointed time. None of them seemsed to know anything about what had happened with the strange creature, so Yuki didn't mention anything about it. They walked back to the hotel, the girls getting into a conversation about all the neat thing they'd gotten to take back with them, the guys just walking along silently.

When they returned to the hotel they hung out for a bit, then went back to their rooms to sleep. Yuki lay awake for a long time, thinking about what the omen could possibly mean. Over a few hours of thinking about it, she slowly fell asleep.

That's it for the fun chapters, now, back to being more serious ^-^


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was a calm warm day, several weeks after they'd returned from their vacation. The sky was a beautiful, clear, cloudless blue. Yuki sat atop a stone wall. She and the others were in a secluded area of a small park near the cemetary. They were training for the big fight with Aizen that was surely soon to come. They were sparing in pairs, fighting someone new each time so they could get used to fighing someone with a different style than their own.

Ikkaku, who had recently been instructed to return, and Renji were sparing for the moment. Renji was kicking the crap out of Ikkaku, and he of course was enjoying every minute of it. They had all been watching intently at the start of the fight, but as it went on, their minds began to wander. Yuki watched some birds fly past overhead. Her eyes were getting tired and heavy from boredom. She let out a long, heavy sigh, that caught the attention of Ichigo who was sitting nearby,

"Something wrong?"

She slowly turned to look at him, "No," She rested her head on her hand, "Just bored, fighing eachother is no challenge at all…" She sighed again.  
"I know what you mean. I haven't been allowed to fight a Taichou…"

Yuki raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying you want to fight me?"

"Huh?"

"I'm a captain." She said, pointing at and jabbing herself with her finger.

"Well…" He thought about it for a moment, "Alright."

She nodded and they quickly got up and left the group. Matsumoto watched them leave,

"Hey…Where're they goin'?"

Toushrio shrugged, "Dunno." And left it at that.

Ichigo and Yuki found another secluded spot a short distance away from the others. Yuki unsheathed her Zanpakuto,

"You're sure you wanna do this?"

Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu, "Yeah, I'm ready when you are."

She spun Korihoshi around in her hand and it changed to it's Shikai without even calling its name.

Ichigo looked a little shocked, "How?"

"You have to have a strong bond with your Zanpakuto. So that it knows what you're thinking, and you know what it's thinking."

He stood there for a moment, pondering this, then regained his composure and charged at her. At this she simply raised her arm a little and flung him away like a bug, sending him flying backward until he was stopped by a very large tree. He stood up, amazed at how much strength was in that little swipe. She grinned at him. He shook his head, a little blood beginning to stream down his face. He tried charging her again, but was again hurled back in the opposite direction.

He didn't understand it. It seemed like everytime he got within an inch of being able to hit her, he was sent away with only a tiny swipe,

"Well, is this as great as you'd expected?"

He got back to his feet, "How're you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Flinging me so easily."

"It's a kind of trick of the eye, to make you think you have an opening, to draw you in…and then some Reiatsu."

She moved her sword to one side of her body, when in reality it didn't move at all,

"I was third seat unter Tousen's command you know. He couldn't use his eyes, so they never caused him a problem, but he always used others eyes to trick them. He taught me a lot…Don't always trust your eyes Kurosaki…"She gave him a quick stern look, followd by a friendly smile.

"Okay, once more?"

"Alright, bu-"

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

"Use your full strength in it."

"You serious?"

"Yes."

"Whatever you say." She said as she prepared herself, "C'mon then."

He rushed at her once more, an once more she pulled the illusion. This time the loud clang of metal filled the air. Yuki looked up to see Ichigo blocking her blade, she smirked,

"Nice job."

He tried to force her back,

"I don't think so…" She said, a little annoyed.

She lifted her blade the tiniest bit, and brought it back down on top of his, smashing him to the ground, holding her blade to his throat,

"Not good enough, I'm afraid."

Just then she heard a voice shout from behind them, "Taichou!"

She looked over her shoulder to see who was there, "Shuuhei? What're you doing here?"

Ichigo took the oppurtunity to try and get a strike in on her, but she just pushed him and his blade back down onto the ground, pointing her blade at his throat again. This left him looking pissed off, and a little afraid that she might actually kill him. Hisagi looked a little confused,

"What're you guys doing?"

"I'm teaching Kurosaki a lesson. I think we're done now." She paused and turned back to Ichigo, "Right, Ichigo?"

"Uh…yes…" He said quietly, getting back to his feet.

She turned back toward Hisagi, "Now, Shuuhei, what do you need?"

"Oh, right. They've been tracking the Arrancar back in SeiReiTei. They apparently left Hueco Mundo days ago, and could arrive here at any time."

Her eyes widened, "Why the hell didn't you say so sooner?"

Just as she'd finished talking a chilling wind stirred up, along with a familiar reiatsu,

"Aizen…"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The others all soon met up with Yuki, Ichigo and Hisagi. Yuki was now strangling Hisagi for not telling them this days ago,

"Hey!" Toushiro shouted, "This isn't the time!"

Yuki let go of Hisagi who fell onto the ground,

"Right."

She walked a few steps, then the Arrancar and Ex-Shinigami appeared in front of the group,

"Going somewhere?" Aizen asked.

Then he spotted Yuki,

"Oh, you're here too. How's it going with the Hollow?"

Everyone looked at her when he asked her this, but she just ignored the question,

"Shut up and let's get this going."

He grinned in response, "Good thing you're all together."

"Shit." Ichigo muttered.

"Split up!" Toushiro shouted.

They all dashed off in separate directions. Ichigo and Renji goin after Aizen, Toushiro and Matsumoto after Ichimaru, and the others after the left over Espada. Tousent went immediately after Hisagi, and Yuki followed.

Sorry for the short chapter. But that's how it was originally written, heh.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It wasn't long before Yuki lost the two of them. She stopped and looked around. She had made it to the middle of the city, but not a living creature was in sight. It was completely silent. But not a normal silence. It was deafening, like everything was being blocked out. She stood there in silence for a moment trying to sense the surrounding Reiatsu. From the way they'd split up, they weren't fighting too far away from eachother. It took her a moment, but she finally located her Fukutaichou's reiastsu and ran toward it.

She finally came to a skyscraper with a huge black orb surrouding the entire top half of it,

"Oh no." She said, looking for a way to get to where they were, then sped off.

Hisagi was struggling a great deal with his Ex-Taichou. He was already seriously injured, but was managing to fight pretty well to keep himself alive until Yuki arrived,

"You're doing pretty well, but you won't last much longer." Tousen taunted, slicing Hisagi's arm.

"Shut up!" Hisagi shouted, trying to force him back, but he was already gone, "Calm down…" He thought. He soon realized that he'd been spending so much time worrying about calming down that he'd forgotten about the fight. Tousen had come up behind him, prepared to deal the final blow to Hisagi. His blade was just about to hit Hisagi's back when suddenly the light returned. Hisagi looked around, confused about what had just happened. Then he saw what it was. Yuki had broken through Tousen's Bankai. She held his blade in her hand, it had made a pretty deep cut there, her blood ran down the blade and dripped onto the ground,

"Taichou…you…"

"Get out of here…." She said with a seriousness he'd never heard in her voice before.

"But.."

"GO! NOW!"

He stood there watching for a moment, stunned that after all he'd done to her, she'd saved his life. He tried to run away but only got a few feet before collapsing onto the ground in pain,

"Shuuhei!"

She tried to run to him, but Tousen grabbed her wrist,

"He's just dead weight now, leave him. You're fighting me."

She turned back to him, "Fine…"

He held his sword toward her, "I've heard a lot about your Bankai. Show it to me."

"Never."

"I guess I'll have to beat it out of you!"

He rushed at her and she moved easily out of the way. She let out a small giggle,

"What was that? Has Aizen made you soft?" She paused for a second, "Or maybe your sense of justice has been skewed so much that you can't remember how to properly fight for it?"

He growled angrily, "How dare you?"

He swung his sword at her and she easily stopped it,

"Have I broken your concentration?" She asked as she pushed him back.

They went fighting like that for a long time. Tosen completely unable to get in any hits on her at all. Yuki stopped once in awhile to taunt him, only getting him even more worked up. Finally after a very long time he got fed up with her. He stopped and stood glaring at her,

"You know how much I hate to fight. This has to end now, quit playing around."

Yuki grinned, "Whatever you say. But you still haven't seen my Bankai yet." She held her sword up to him, "You still wanna try?"

He tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword, "I won't give up until the fight is done."

He charged at her again, and she blocked as usual. But something strange happened this time. He had manged to push her sword away with his, and shoved his hand into her chest. She looked down as her blood dripped down his sword and onto his clean white robes. A thin trickle came out of her mouth and dripped onto his hand,

"You still have the same opening you did when you first joined my division, didn't I tell you to work on that?"

"Ugh…How dare you…?"

"Heh, you're finished."

"Not yet…" Ice suddenly surrounded his hand, trapping him there, "Korihoshi…" She whispered, "Bankai…"

Tousen struggled to get away before the shockwave of Reiatsu hit, but wasn't able to. He was thrown back into the wall that had the door that lead to the roof on it. He looked up a moment later to see her standing there with her huge sword and giant ice wings. She was a bit hunched over, almost as if the wings were too heavy for her. Then he noticed something else was happening, he could sense that her Reiatsu was a little bit different than before.

Her hair began to change from snowy white to deep black. She took a staggered step forward as her hair finished changing and her eyes turned red. Her left one was black with a red iris, her right eye stayed white, but the iris turned red. Tousen's eyes widened,

"The Hollow…His experiment worked…"

He backe dup as far as he could into the wall, sure that his life would be ending soon.

The cat like mask formed on the left side of Yuki's face. It had long pointed fangs and red stripes on the cheek that resembled thick whiskers. The eye beneath the mask seemed to glow as it watched him. The ice on her wings was now a transparent black, and the blood that flowed through them almost glowed as well. Her sword had turned black as well. Tousen's body filled with terror, the Reiatsu he felt was different than anything he'd ever encountered before.

When she'd finished with her transformation she had horrifyingly long claws on her fingers, and a terrifying smile on her face. Tousen stood shakily. She looked at him,

"Are you prepared to die?"

She laughed in a voice that was no longer her own. Then without giving him any time to answer she pounced on him, biting and ripping her claws through him. He cried out in shock and horror, swinging his sword around in a fruitless effort to push her away.

It wasn't long before he was dead. The hollow had ripped him to shreds. It took all of the remaining Reiatsu she had to restrain the hollow back once more. She changed back to normal very quickly, and her Bankai shattered into a million sparkling shards of ice. She fell down to one knee, in Tousen's effort to escape he'd landed several hits on her, most of which weren't very deep, but a few were. She bled heavily, mostly from the hole in her chest, forming a bright red pool around her. She dropped her other knee to the ground, the bleeding getting heavier and her breathing labored. She sat like that, scowling, for a moment more, then collapsed, unconsious onto the cold stone of the roof.

Hisagi struggled to his feet, "Taichou…" He managed to make is way over to her, but collapsed again when he got there, right next to her.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Yuki was out for what seemed like only a few minutes. She opened her eyes slowly to find shat she was now laying on her back, head resting in Hisagi's lap. A little blood was dripping down his face and landing on his robes,

"Taichou…" He said wearily.

"Hisagi…You're alive…" She said, trying to sit herself up, he gently pushed her back down,

"You really…Can't be moving."

"But Tousen…"

"He's Dead…"

"Dead?"

"Yes…and the other battles…most of them are over too." He sighed, "You should not talk…"

She turned her head a little to see Tousen's lifeless body laying across from them and let out a relieved sigh, then she closed her eyes. Hisagi sighed,

"Thank you…Taichou…"

He winced and put his hand on his side, blood seeping through is fingers, his worst wound was located there. Tousen had cut about half way through him before the end of their battle, he'd been bleeding heavily since then. He slowly began to notice his vision fading, and he began to feel dizzy. He put his hand on his head, then blacked out, falling to the side. Right next to his fallen Taichou.

About an hour later the 4th division relief squad was sent out to check on them. They helped everyone one at a time, gathering those who were in no great danger to help them with the others. Ichigo, Renji, Matsumoto, Toushiro, and Chad were all taken immediately to SeiReiTei for emergency treatment. Most everyone else had pretty minor injuries, nothing that needed immediate attention.

After they'd gotten them all gathered up, they went out in search of the missing 9th division members. It took them awhile, but the eventually located Yuki and Hisagi. They were on the very brink of death when they were found. Kotetsu Isane quickly examined them,

"Just like the others…" She said, "Tousen wasn't going down easy…Especially to those two who were in his own division…" Her face went from slightly sad to dead serious, "Get them to Unohana-Taichou!" She commanded. The others did as they were told and rushed to get them out of there.

After everyone had left, Hanatarou was sent back to make sure no civilians had been caught up during the battle. He was happy that he'd gotten a pretty important job, and was determined not to screw it up.

He was walking down a quiet street when he suddenly heard the sound of soft crying. He looked around frantically to find where it was coming from. Finally he spotted a girl sitting in the shadows between two houses, her head burried in her hands. He walked up to her,

"E-excuse me…" He said timidly, not sure she could even see him. She looked up, her long orange hair falling over her shoulders, "Hanatarou-Kun…?"

"Ah!"

When the relief squad had finally gotten Yuki and Hisagi back to SeiReiTei, Unohana was swamped with work from the others. But when she saw the condition they were in , she immediately stopped to help them.

She worked feverishly to stablize them both. Once in awhile one of them would just about slip away, but she wouldn't let them go, it was extremely taxing.

After a few hours, they were finally stable enough to be left alone for awhile, she told those helping her out to take them to a quiet room so they could rest, and they did so without hesitation. She walked into her office, knowing that if she didn't take the time to rest now, she wouldn't get another chance. She sighed,

"What a disaster…"

She picked up a cup of tea that she had sitting on her desk and was about to take a relaxing sip of it, when someone ran up to her door,

"Unohana Taichou! It's Kurosaki!"

She sighed, putting her tea down and rushing from the room.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It was nearly a month before Yuki regained consiousness. She was in a small sundrenched room that was almost too bright for her weary eyes. She blinked a few times to try and adjust, then noticed Hisagi and Toushiro sitting next to her bed. Hisagi sat with his hospital robe partially open, a bandage was wrapped around his stomach and his upper arm. Toushiro sat next to him, his arms both bandaged all the way to the shoulders, as well as his neck, and some spots on his face. They both looked like it caused them a great deal of pain just to sit there.

It was quite a shock for Yuki to see Hisagi that way, she'd never seen him badly injured before,

"Hisagi…I…" She started,

"Hisagi again?" He interrupted, "C'mon, you're not doing that bad are you?" He laughed, letting out a barely noticeable wince as he did so. Her eyes suddenly filled with worry. He smiled at her,

"No worries, okay? I'm alright."

She nodded and moved her gaze to Toushiro. He put his hand on top of hers,

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired…mostly."

"Still in pain though I assume."

"Well, yeah…"

"Heh, just like the rest of us…Unohana-Taichou says we'll all probably be here for at least another couple of weeks before she'll let us go…Something about eveyrone associated with Aizen having some delay put on them so we wouldn't heal right away if we killed him…I don't quite understand it…but that's what she said…"

She nodded and sat up a bit, Hisagi helping by proping her up with a pillow. She turned to him again,

"I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner."

He patted her on the head, "C'mon Taichou, don't be sad, it all wound up being okay."

"You swear? Cause if something happens and you die-"

He laughed, "I swear, I swear."

She crossed her arms, "Good."

Toushiro watched as the two of them joked around and teased eachother. He was glad that after all that had happened she could still be happy. He let out a small sigh. Hisagi and Yuki both glanced at him,

"What's up?" Yuki asked.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure?"

"How can you be so carefree, you had to kill your ex-Taichou?"

"That is true…" She began, "But we in the 9th division all came to terms with that a long time ago. We all decided that we'd either bring him back here…or if that was impossible, we would take him down, using that same sense of justice he taught us. He was loyal to Aizen until the bitter end, so I had to kill him."

"Don't you regret it, a little?"

"No…To us, the real Tousen Kaname died the day he left with Aizen…"

"I see…"

Hisagi let out a little laugh,

"What?" Yuki asked Sternly.

"You're cute when you're serious," He patted her on the head again, "Chibi-Taichou."

A vein popped out on her forehead, "What'd you just call me?"

"It's your new nickname."

"No!"

Toushiro just smiled, happy to know that everything would be alright now.

That's the end!

Thank you for reading, please review ^-^


End file.
